Ottawa jewish bulletin 2015 04 13 by The Ottawa Jewish Bulletin

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Belgian Jewish leader Julien Klener will discuss whether Europe, 70 years after the Holocaust, is safe for Jews > p. 3

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Congregation Beth Shalom arrives at new home

Congregation Beth Shalom President Peter Greenberg and Jewish Federation of Ottawa President and CEO Andrea Freedman carry the congregation’s Torah scrolls as members of the congregation arrive on the Jewish Community Campus, March 29, following a three-hour walk from 151 Chapel Street, the congregation’s home for almost 60 years. Members took turns carrying the scrolls on the 10-km route. Also seen at the front of the procession are Cantor Daniel Benlolo and Jay Amdur, the congregation’s treasurer. The Jewish Community Campus will be the congregation’s temporary home for the next year. Daily services will be held in the chapel at Hillel Lodge, while Shabbat and holiday services will be held in the Soloway Jewish Community Centre social hall. See page 2 for Peter Greenberg’s reflections on Beth Shalom’s final weekend on Chapel Street and the move to the Jewish Community Campus. PHOTO: MICHAEL REGENSTREIF

inside:

Temple Israel announces new spiritual leader > p. 3

Rabbi Barry Schlesinger on days of memorial and celebration > p. 6

Barbara Crook on Obama and Netanyahu > p. 17

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Laughs, tears and hugs as Beth Shalom says farewell to Chapel Street Congregation Beth Shalom left its former Chapel Street building – once also home to Ottawa’s Jewish Community Centre – for its new temporary home on the Jewish Community Campus on Sunday morning, March 29, the culmination of a weekend of farewell events and its ﬁnal Shabbat services in the synagogue building that had been Beth Shalom’s home for almost six decades. Peter Greenberg, president of the congregation, offers his reﬂections.

n January 14, 2014, Trinity Investments, Forgestone Capital and Congregation Beth Shalom of Ottawa completed a purchase and sale of the property known municipally as 151-153 Chapel Street, Ottawa. This area had been the centre of the Jewish community for decades until families began moving away from the downtown core. Thus began a series of events that would culminate in the move of our congregation from Sandy Hill to the west end. On March 27, Beth Shalom began our swansong farewell weekend in our sanctuary of almost 60 years – a weekend that would feature smiles, tears, laughs, song, some prayer, and a tremendous amount of family spirit and closeness. I write this article, not as president, but as a congregant whose family had been one of the founding families of Congregation Beth Shalom. My parents were married in this sanctuary. My brother and I had our bar mitzvahs in the sanctuary. My daughter Amy had her bat mitzvah in this sanctuary and my daughter Brianna was the ﬁrst woman to chant the Haftarah on the High Holidays in this sanctuary. My sister was married in this sanctuary, and on it goes. Indeed, there is no shortage of personal memories.

I expected an emotional departure as memories were both sweet and bittersweet. Our Friday night Shabbat dinner was the epitome of freilach – an evening of friends and family reminiscing about their experiences in our majestic building, and yet, the true emotion had not yet shown itself. Saturday morning was Shabbat Hagadol – fitting given its place in the calendar. I had noted almost flippantly that, once again, we were nomadic. Very easy to say while reading my comments in front of our beloved congregants. For me, the true emotion really came out after the final tour of the congregation, when our chazzan, Cantor Daniel Benlolo, chanted the traditional “Eitz Chaim” as the sacred Torah was returned to its ark for the final time at 151 Chapel. People were choked up, some actually terribly saddened as the memories flowed, and the visions of their long-departed loved ones and truly special memories surfaced in their yontif seats. In all my years at Beth Shalom, I cannot remember being so moved. Yet, we persevered. We continued the weekend and enjoyed another fabulous luncheon, as has become our practice. More laughs, more hugs, a few tears. Our Beth Shalom family assembled yet again Saturday evening for a night of karaoke,

PHOTO: ALEX SARNA

Beth Shalom Treasurer Jay Amdur assists Cantor Daniel Benlolo, who holds one of the Torah scrolls in the sanctuary at 151 Chapel Street as members of the congregation prepare to carry the two scrolls to Beth Shalom’s temporary home on the Jewish Community Campus.

song, some dance, another nosh and a L’chaim or two. It was a party in celebration of ourselves, and we deserved it. Once again, I felt proud to have taken on an important role at this signiﬁcant time in our history. Yet, while kvelling at the ruach of the evening, I was touched to see one of our long-standing members alone in front of the ark in the main sanctuary, weeping lightly and privately, as we danced the night away in the ballroom. The enormity of the weekend truly hit home when we commenced our Torah processional. We had a perfect day as we marched our sacred scrolls from our home of almost 60 years to our new temporary home at the Soloway JCC. What an incredible sight! Our chazzan started the processional through the downtown core, past Parliament Hill, through the LeBreton Flats, up to Carling Avenue, and on to the Soloway Jewish

Community Centre. We passed our Torahs from family to family and from member to member. And, yet, while our departure was overwhelming, our welcome was equally impressive: a minyan and a nosh in our new, if temporary, surrounding. How appropriate. I must admit, I cannot predict the future, nor do I feel it is appropriate to do so at this time. As a congregational family, we can mourn, but smile, as we have responded to a difﬁcult time with grace and dignity. As president of Congregation Beth Shalom, I am proud of my colleagues, our members, our clergy and our staff. This event represented an important turning point in our history and, once again, Beth Shalom hit one out of the park with lots of laughs, a few tears, and belief in ourselves. Yasher Koach, Beth Shalom!

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Belgian Jewish leader Julien Klener to address European anti-Semitism at Yom HaShoah event BY LOUISE RACHLIS

he “unpleasant question marks” are coming from “the bottom of society,” but are still creating anxiety in Western Europe, according to the president of Belgium’s Jewish community. “Let it be said that, at this very moment in history, there is certainly in Western Europe no governmental anti-Judaism,” said Julien Klener in an email interview with the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin. Klener will speak to Ottawa’s Jewish community during the Yom HaShoah commemoration, Wednesday, April 15, 7 pm, at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre. His topic will be “70 Years after the Shoah: Is Europe Safe for Jews?” Anti-Semitism “comes from the bottom of society, and the highest authorities are doing whatever they can to secure the Jewish citizens,” he said. “But, still, Jewish historical anxieties are surely very present. How do I feel as a Belgian Jew? Lucid vigilance and hope for better times are the main words.” A child survivor of the Holocaust and a distinguished university professor,

Julien Klener will speak about current anti-Semitism in Europe at Ottawa’s Yom HaShoah commemoration, April 15, at the SJCC.

Klener is a highly respected European Jewish leader who speaks regularly around the world on the future of European Jewry. “I used to be known as a pessimist,

having this hidden-child layer. Not any more ... My parents, may they rest in peace, were already born here. Belgium is the country where I grew up, studied and taught; where I loved and disliked. My

roots are here. But, nowadays, I am, as are so many others, confronted with unpleasant question marks,” he said. Klener said he would try “to put into words the almost general feeling of uneasiness, of existential questioning, confronting Jewish communities in my part of the world. “I will try to convey my own reactions to a situation whereby not only verbal attacks, but also very concrete murderous acts are perpetrated,” he said. Klener said he is aware of Jewish families who are thinking of leaving Europe, not only for Israel, but also for the U.S, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. “It is the talk of the Jewish town. But there is still a difference between thought and act,” he said. Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter, who was proﬁled in the March 30 issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, will be the keynote speaker at the Yom HaShoah commemoration. For more information, contact Benita Siemiatycki at bsiemiatycki@jewishottawa.com or 613-798-4696, ext. 227.

Temple Israel of Ottawa announces Rabbi Rob Morais will be new spiritual leader BY MICHAEL REGENSTREIF EDITOR

emple Israel of Ottawa has announced that Rabbi S. Robert Morais will become the Reform congregation’s new spiritual leader on July 6. He will succeed Rabbi Norman Klein, who has been acting as interim spiritual leader since Rabbi Steven Garten – Temple Israel’s rabbi emeritus – retired last year. Rabbi Morais is a native of Toronto and graduated from York University before earning his rabbinic ordination at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. He comes to Temple Israel

after serving as spiritual leader of Temple Beth Israel in Jackson, Michigan. He previously held positions at several other congregations, including serving on the team of clergy at Temple Israel in suburban Detroit, the largest Reform congregation in the world. The rabbi has also served as executive director for the Hillel branches at colleges in the Rochester, New York area and director of the Jewish children’s museum at the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit. “I am very excited to have been selected as your next rabbi,” Rabbi Morais said in a message to Temple Israel

congregants. “Ottawa has an incredible Jewish community, and I am looking forward to beginning our sacred journey together. I am eager to begin getting to know everyone at Temple Israel. Together, we will chart a new course for Temple, one that will take us on a journey of prayer, education, life cycle events and programs that are all ﬁlled with the richness and joy of Judaism.” Rabbi Morais will be joined in Ottawa by his wife, Rochelle, and their four children, aged 10 to 18. An interview with Rabbi Morais will be featured in an upcoming issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.

Rabbi Rob Morais will become spiritual leader of Temple Israel on July 6.

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Musica Ebraica to present spirituals, Yiddish and Israeli songs BY MINDA WERSHOF AND PATSY ROYER MUSICA EBRAICA

usica Ebraica is bringing our audience something different at our spring concert. Freiman Hall in the Perez Music Building, 50 University Avenue, at the University of Ottawa will be the site, Tuesday, May 12, 7:30 pm, for new Yiddish music written in the last 20 years, new Israeli music, and old-time spirituals based on Torah tales. Beginning with a lively hora and an ethereal rendering of “Love, Smoke, Dreams,” both new Israeli melodies, we turn to prayers of gratitude and celebration. Toes will tap to spirituals, which pass on the stories of Daniel, Noah, Ezekiel and more, and we will present

some Yiddish tunes from the New York stage and others just recently composed. Yiddish is certainly a living language! The Vhovskyi Strings will provide a beautiful musical interlude. This group of young violinists is becoming well known in Ottawa music circles, and Musica Ebraica is delighted to share the concert with them. Professor Rebecca Margolis, a Yiddish specialist in uOttawa’s Department of Modern Languages, will be the MC. Mark your calendars for a special evening of music and Jewish song. Tickets are $20 (general admission) and $5 (students) and will be available at the door. They are also available in advance from all Musica Ebraica members or by calling 613-233-3099.

Musica Ebraica performs its spring concert, May 12, at uOttawa.

Author discusses Poland’s ‘Lucky Jews’ phenomenon BY ROSLYN WOLLOCK SOLOWAY JCC

ewish culture has become popular among non-Jews in contemporary Poland. Cultural anthropologist Erica Lehrer will speak about this curious phenomenon on Sunday, May 3, 1:30 pm, at the Soloway Jewish Community. Lehrer is a professor at Concordia University in Montreal specializing in

post-Holocaust Jewish culture and ethnography. Her latest book, Lucky Jews, examines this explosion of interest. The book grew out of her 2013 exhibit in Krakow of contemporary Polish-made ﬁgurines depicting Jews. These wooden ﬁgurines represent images of stereotypical Jews – complete with long black coats, beards, sidelocks, yarmulkes and Bibles. Some are wearing dollar signs on their

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garments, others carry gold coins. Found in homes, shops and restaurants throughout Poland, these ﬁgurines, which have come into prominence over the past two decades, are thought by many to be good luck charms. Or are they? Lehrer will discuss the Jewish ﬁgurines and what they mean to both the non-Jews who make them, and clamour to possess them, and the Polish Jewish population who both love and hate the industry. Admission is $10. For information, contact Roslyn Wollock at 613-798-9818, ext. 254 or rwollocl@jccottawa.com.

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A “Lucky Jew” figurine popular in Poland.

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Saturday Shabbat Services, 10:15 am. Sunday, April 19: Books and Bagels, Paul Wiens will review The Invisible City by Julia Dahl. A young journalist is drawn into her estranged mother’s world where she is assigned to cover the murder of an Hasidic Jewish woman in New York City. Bagels, 9:30 am; review 10:00 am. Sunday, May 3: Books and Bagels, Rabbi Emeritus Steven Garten will review Future Tense: Jews, Judaism and Israel in the Twenty-first Century by Jonathan Sacks. Bagels, 9:30 am; review 10:00 am. Norman Klein, Interim Rabbi Steven H. Garten, Rabbi Emeritus Heather Cohen, Executive Director Sheli Braun, Principal, Religious School

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First Canadian Jewish educatorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; roundtable coming to Ottawa

hen did the Jews ďŹ rst settle in Canada? What have been their contributions to this country, its history and culture? How can the story of Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jews best be conveyed to students of all ages? These are some of the issues that will be addressed at the ďŹ rst-ever Educatorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Roundtable of the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies that will gather in Ottawa on Sunday, May 31, from 3:30-5:30 pm at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (SJCC). The brainchild of Barry Stiefel, president of the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies (ACJS) and a staunch promoter of Canadian Jewish education and heritage preservation, the purpose of the Educatorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Roundtable is to create a forum for improving the quantity and quality of Canadian Jewish studies teaching at all levels, from kindergarten through adult education. The new initiative will offer an opportunity for Canadian Jewish studies educators across the country to

dialogue and share resources. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since Canadian Jewish studies is relatively young, putting our heads together is an important, creative moment,â&#x20AC;? said York University assistant professor and roundtable participant David Koffman. All educators in the Ottawa area with an interest in Canadian Jewish Studies are invited to take part in this roundtable and share their insights. Contact Barry Stiefel at bstiefel@yahoo.com for more information or to RSVP for the session. The roundtable will take place as part of a community day of learning during the annual ACJS conference taking place this year in Ottawa. Co-sponsored with the University of Ottawaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Vered Jewish Canadian Studies Program and the SJCC, the day will begin at 10:00 am with sessions on preserving Canadian Jewish heritage, and Sephardi Jewish culture. It concludes with an evening event from 5:30-7:00 pm at which uOttawa Professor Pierre Anctil will receive the Louis Rosenberg Distinguished Service Award for his life-long devotion to the study and teaching of the history of Canadian Jewish life. The award presentation will be followed by the launch of Richard

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Menkis and Harold Troperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new book, More Than Just Games: Canada and the 1936 Olympics. All of Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sessions, including the roundtable, will be open to the public at a cost of $18.00, which includes lunch and refreshments as well as an introductory one-year membership to the ACJS. Children Healthcare Women

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Tickets will be available at the door of the SJCC on Sunday, May 31 starting at 9:00 am. For more information or to reserve a spot, contact Professor Rebecca Margolis at rmargoli@uOttawa.ca. Visit http://acjs-aejc.ca/conference for details of the full ACJS conference.

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FEDERATION REPORT

LYNNE ORECK-WENER FOUNDATION

FROM THE PULPIT

ur daily lives are hectic, busy and full of decisions relating to work, community, leisure and family. Rarely do we have the time or inclination to PAUSE and think about or discuss what we truly DESIRE, what OUR hopes and DREAMS are, and what we aspire to in the long term. For those of us who are parents, what the future holds for our children and

RABBI BARRY SCHLESINGER AGUDATH ISRAEL

n the past, I used to shul hop. Shul hopping is the sport of walking to other shuls to daven on Shabbatot and chagim. It is one of the great pleasures I had to give up when I became a pulpit rabbi. Whenever we visited Jerusalem, we always enjoyed visiting and davening in different shuls. The quality of the scotch at the Kiddush or the vocal skills of the Ba’al Teﬁllah (prayer leader) were always nice rewards for visiting a new shul. But, frankly, the only thing I really looked for in a new synagogue was the inclusion of prayers for the State of Israel and for the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces in the liturgy. One of the ﬁrst things I do when I enter a shul is open the siddur to see if those prayers appear as part of the Shabbat service. As a religious Zionist, I truly believe that our 19th and 20th century return to Zion and the establishment of the State of Israel are miraculous realizations of God’s

Leaving a legacy is both a responsibility and an honour what we can do to ensure a bright future are important considerations. What type of community and world do we want them to inherit? What do I personally want to leave them as my legacy? When thinking of the future, providing for goals and aspirations in a will is a clear, effective way to safeguard your family, beneﬁt your community, and set an example of responsibility and commitment to our community. As I end my term as chair of the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation, I reﬂect proudly on the work we have done and look forward to continued growth and success – together. I look at the act of establishing a legacy in your will through the Foundation not only as a good deed, a mitzvah, enabling you to support the causes most important to

you in perpetuity, but also as a smart ﬁnancial tool and a great example of philanthropy for your children. Legacy giving through the Foundation is a win-win for you, your heirs, your estate and your community. We all aspire to make a difference, throughout our lives, and even when we are no longer here. This spring, the Foundation will initiate a broad effort to reach out to the Ottawa Jewish community, starting a discussion about legacy giving with as many people as we can reach. I urge you to be responsive to this approach, and to take advantage of the Foundation’s Legacy Challenge initiative. When you draw up or revise a will leaving $10,000 or more, or one per cent of your estate to support the causes dearest to you through the Foundation,

The Zionist holiday season: days of memorial, remembrance and celebration promise to Avraham, as articulated throughout the Tanach. I maintain there is an obligation to add prayers of Hakarat Hatov (gratitude and thanksgiving) to God for the existence of Medinat Yisrael and for the well-being of all those invested in ensuring its safety and security. I also expect that the synagogue I daven in marks and observes the new Jewish holidays that have been added to our contemporary Jewish calendar and which actually appear listed on our very own Scotiabank calendar. (Yasher koach to Scotiabank!) A few days ago, we completed the eight days of Pesach and we are now beginning the Zionist holiday season. This short season includes days of memorial, remembrance and celebration, which are observed by both secular and religious Jews. These days are imbued with traditions, customs, literature and liturgy. They commemorate events never to be forgotten. I suggest this holiday season – which includes Yom HaShoah, Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’Atzmaut – was inspired by the words of Psalm 30, “You have changed lament into dancing; you undid my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, so that my soul might make music.” A symbolic shiva week of remembrance and mourning commences on the 27th

day of Nisan, Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day), and finishes seven days later on the fourth day of Iyar, when we mark Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Remembrance Day for its fallen soldiers and those killed in acts of terror. At the end of this shiva-like week, our moods are dramatically changed. Our spirits are lifted as fireworks light up the sky on Yom Ha’Atzmaut, as Israel’s independence is celebrated as is written in the Book of Esther (8:16), “for the Jews, there was light, gladness, joy and honour.” Although Israelis continue to argue about how Shabbat is to be observed in the public sphere, when it comes to observing Yom HaShoah and Yom Hazikaron, secular and religious Zionists are unified. Everyone sheds a tear and responds “Amen” to the memorial Kaddish. When the days of memorial are over and Yom Ha’Atzmaut begins, everyone wishes their neighbour, “Chag Sameach!” Some will go to synagogue to say prayers of hallel and thanksgiving. Some will go to the town square to celebrate and dance in the streets. They all share in recognizing one of our people’s greatest accomplishments: the State of Israel. May the unity experienced during this Zionist holiday season continue throughout the year.

the Foundation will cover your legal expenses up to $1,000. By taking action today, your legacy will be ensured through the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation. I am honoured to have worked with so many dedicated and talented individuals, volunteers and staff on the various committees and Board of the Foundation. Thank you for your support, time, energy and your leadership. I am grateful to have had this opportunity to serve as your chair and work with you to secure a brighter future for generations to come. Thank you as well to the many people who have chosen to entrust their legacy to the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation though bequests, insurance, endowments, the Women’s Collective Philanthropy Program, B’nai Tzedek funds, and other vehicles supporting dozens of charitable causes in our community and beyond. And, as I ﬁnish my term later this spring, I welcome Michael Landau as the new chair, certain that his energy, integrity, enthusiasm and passion for our community will provide conﬁdent leadership into the future. Together, we can and will build a bright future. To discuss your legacy, please be in touch with Arieh Rosenblum at arosenblum@jewishottawa.com or 613-798-4696, ext. 270.

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin VOLUME 79 | ISSUE 11 Ottawa Jewish Bulletin Publishing Co. Ltd. 21 Nadolny Sachs Private, Ottawa, K2A 1R9 Tel: 613 798-4696 | Fax: 613 798-4730 Email: bulletin@ottawajewishbulletin.com Published 19 times per year. © Copyright 2015 PUBLISHER Andrea Freedman EDITOR Michael Regenstreif PRODUCTION MANAGER Brenda Van Vliet BUSINESS MANAGER Barry Silverman The Bulletin, established in 1937 as “a force for constructive communal consciousness,” communicates the messages of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa and its agencies and, as the city’s only Jewish newspaper, welcomes a diversity of opinion as it strives to inform and enrich the community. Viewpoints expressed in these pages do not necessarily represent the policies and values of the Federation. The Bulletin cannot vouch for the kashrut of advertised products or establishments unless they are certified by Ottawa Vaad HaKashrut or a rabbinic authority recognized by OVH. $36 Local Subscription | $40 Canada $60 USA | $179 Overseas | $2 per issue We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage. ISSN: 1196-1929 Publication Mail Agreement No. 40018822 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Ottawa Jewish Bulletin 21 Nadolny Sachs Private, Ottawa ON K2A 1R9

April 13, 2015

FROM THE EDITOR

OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

MICHAEL REGENSTREIF

IDEAS AND IMPRESSIONS

erhaps the biggest change at the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin over the past year-and-a-half is the way we use our website – www.ottawajewishbulletin.com. While the old site was stagnant with just a couple of stories from the print edition, our new site is dynamic and is updated every working day with new content. The complete print edition is made available in PDF and page-ﬂip versions for easy reading on smartphones, tablets and computer screens, and our main news stories and columns are also posted in the blog roll. But, beyond the standard Bulletin content, we also now publish many articles online – both breaking news briefs and feature length pieces – from Israel and around the Jewish world – including here in Ottawa. The vast

JASON MOSCOVITZ

y family visit to Israel coincided with being there a week before the March 17 election until a week after. I saw, I heard and I lived the election experience, and I must say it wasn’t what I expected. And I don’t necessarily mean just the result. I always thought Israeli elections were passionate, wild and woolly punch-outs that left the electorate and the participants emotionally exhausted. While I knew it was possible to win an election in Israel and then lose it because of the inability to form a coalition, I never thought the polls could be so wrong about picking the probable winner.

The Bulletin website brings our coverage of news from the Jewish world to new levels majority of these are articles we do not have space to include in our print editions. For example, in the less-thantwo-weeks that passed between when our March 30 issue went to press on March 20 and when this issue went to press on April 2, we published more than 120 articles online. The website has brought our ability to cover Jewish news to a whole new level. The online articles over this period included extensive coverage – including analyses – of continuously developing news stories like the negotiations to form Israel’s next coalition government and the Iran nuclear talks; important news of the day items from Israel and around the Diaspora; and features on such topics as the plight of Ukrainian Jewish refugees in Crimea, the Reform movement’s new gay-friendly machzor, and actor Michael Douglas writing about his son’s ﬁrst encounter with anti-Semitism. The website has proven especially important during intense news cycles such as Israel’s Operation Protective Edge last summer in Gaza, the January terrorist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo

satirical magazine and Hyper Cacher kosher grocery store in France, and the recent Israeli election campaign. The Bulletin website also provides readers with the ability to comment on the stories and columns we publish. Each article and column on the blog roll has a comments section. We welcome your participation on the site, but we ask you to play by the rules. The site is moderated to protect against personal attacks and unsubstantiated claims. And we do not allow anonymous comments. Readers must post under their full names and provide an email address (which is not published) where we can contact them, should something need to be veriﬁed. This protects our site from degenerating into the kind of vindictive hate-fests we see on too many Internet sites. But, please, if you have something to say about the issues covered in the articles and columns we publish, do join the conversation. So, if you haven’t yet checked out the online Bulletin at www.ottawajewish bulletin.com, please do. And check back often for the latest stories, features and

In Israel, anything and everything can dramatically change in two days I thought when I arrived that the streets and cafés would be ﬁlled with election talk. But, although I speak and understand little Hebrew, I knew it wasn’t politics people were talking about. They were too calm. They were talking about anything but politics, and I began to think they didn’t have the energy for it. While I had expected the streets to be plastered with election signage, there was little I really noticed in either Tel Aviv or Jerusalem apart from election ads on buses. Again, it was quiet. I would say very quiet for a week before an election – in any country, let alone in Israel. As we recall, a week before voting day, it appeared the election was over. The polls consistently told a tale of the Likud coalition government being replaced by a left-of-centre coalition. There were so many stories about electoral fatigue towards Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, so many indications that change was imminent. My daughters asked me what I thought, and I was careful to say that, while I’m not an expert on Israeli politics, my experience told me the polls are usually correct – especially when they are consistent. I

added that, as Election Day approaches, and the polls are still leaning one way, it is most unusual to have a last-minute reversal. The night before the vote, Likud staged a huge rally in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. They bused in supporters from all over Israel with many coming from settlements. The street was blocked with thousands of ﬂag-waving people everywhere. To me, it was the last loud stand of the desperate. On election night, we went to a bar to watch the results. Once again, it was quiet and kind of bizarre since this Americanstyle bar was also celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. It seemed like St. Patrick’s Day was a bigger hit than the election. The election just seemed to be happening on the giant screen as the exit poll results were being reported. Once again, there seemed to be a lack of enthusiasm as the results seemed to indicate a tie for ﬁrst place among the leading right and left wing parties. That being said, the left knew from the exit polls that Netanyahu’s Likud had a much better chance of forming a coalition government. That was clear, I was told,

columns. And if you’re on Facebook, like our page – www.facebook.com/ OttawaJewishBulletin – to get updates (with links) on the articles and columns posted to the site.

THE NEW DAILY SHOW HOST Speaking of the Internet, a bit of a brouhaha developed online after The Daily Show announced that South African comedian Trevor Noah would succeed Jon Stewart, later this year, as host of the late-night satirical news show. It was discovered that he had a long Twitter history of almost 9,000 tweets, which included four questionable posts that some interpreted as being anti-Semitic. For example, in one tweet from 2009, Noah wrote, “Almost bumped a Jewish kid crossing the road. He didn’t look b4 crossing but I still would hav felt so bad in my german car!” [sic] And just last year, he wrote, “Behind every successful Rap Billionaire is a double as rich Jewish man.” While I’d agree that such posts are in poor taste and not at all funny, I really don’t think there’s much there to worry about. There certainly isn’t much there in the number of tweets – four of nearly 9,000 spread over six years – or in any level of real hatred being discernable. I’m prepared – at this point – to cut him some slack. Noah is a young comedian who has put his foot in his mouth a few times. What comedian hasn’t? And, for that matter, haven’t we all? because, when we left the bar and crossed Rabin Square, there was no one on the left celebrating. Rabin Square was empty. The only people I saw were TV reporters, one from Japan and one from Scandinavia, shooting their video stand-ups. They, too, obviously expected a crowd in the background. The next morning, with all the votes counted, the exit polls were proven wrong. It wasn’t a virtual tie between left and right. It was a lights-out Netanyahu Likud right wing victory – and that part wasn’t so quiet. Those last-minute remarks we are so well aware of now, of Netanyahu rejecting a two-state solution, and of the right needing to beat back droves of Arab voters, made loud headlines worldwide. In Israel, they wondered if he won the election because of them. We and they may never know. But there is no question – for those who believe in the science of polling – that something dramatic changed the course of the election at the last minute. Did Netanyahu say those things out of frustration or out of conviction? Does it really matter now? While visiting an Israeli friend, I was reminded, not in a conversation that had anything to do with politics, that, in Israel, anything and everything can dramatically change in two days. They sure can.

April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

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(JTA) – Ayelet Tsabari acted as a child and teen, appearing in Habima’s youth performances in Israel, a commercial and some student films. Although Tsabari no longer acts, the author of the award-winning The Best Place on Earth feels that the experience of fiction writing is not entirely unlike acting. “I love accessing different characters to put myself in characters that are not necessarily me,” she said. Tsabari, 41, speaks of her fiction as a process of “embodying” her characters, be they a Yemenite grandmother, a Filipina caretaker in Israel, a young woman in the Israeli army or an Indian man who is a British citizen. “I do believe that we are all human, and I can relate to most people. You have to find that kernel of truth in you,” she said. Tsabari’s collection of short stories – for which she recently won the Sami Rohr Prize for Fiction – reflects that diversity, with tales set in India and Canada, as well as Israel, and with characters of varied ages and nationalities. Administered by the Jewish Book Council, the $100,000 Rohr Prize is the largest literary prize in the Jewish world and is intended for writers early in their careers who have published one or two books. The prize alternates between fiction and nonfiction each year and is awarded to “a book of literary merit that stimulates an interest in themes of Jewish concern.” Tsabari grew up in Israel, but has lived in Canada for 16 years having “followed a guy” she met in India when she was in her 20s. “I never planned to stay as long as I did,” she said. Tsabari now lives in Toronto with her husband, but is currently in Israel for a project. In an interview via Skype, she said she is “comfortable with multiple identities and languages and places I call home” while at the same time missing Israel. “I still long for Israel all the time,” she added. “This is why I write about [it] as much as I do.”

PHOTO: SEAN BRERERTON

“I love accessing different characters to put myself in characters that are not necessarily me,” says author Ayelet Tsabari.

Although “pretty much everything that I write is about Israel,” she said, the “longing for a place, the sense of being away, is a very Jewish theme.” Tsabari’s family emigrated from Yemen to Israel, and many of her characters are Jews of Mizrahi (from Arab countries) background. As she said in the Sami Rohr prize news release, “By portraying characters of Mizrahi background, I was hoping to complicate readers’ perceptions of Israel and Jewishness, and to expand and broaden their ideas of what a Jewish story and Jewish experience can be.” In one Best Place on Earth story, “The Poets in the Kitchen Window,” a Mizrahi boy who loves to write poetry tells his sister he has stopped. She asks why, and he says, “Name one Mizrahi poet.” His sister takes a drag on her cigarette, and he continues, “See.” Her answer, See Tsabari on page 11

LETTERS WELCOME Letters to the Editor are welcome if they are brief, signed, timely, and of interest to our readership. The Bulletin reserves the right to refuse, edit or condense letters. The Mailbag column will be published as space permits. Send your letters to Michael Regenstreif, Ottawa Jewish Bulletin 21 Nadolny Sachs Private, Ottawa, ON K2A 1R9. Or by email to bulletin@ottawajewishbulletin.com

April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

Advertorial

Alan Blostein President

More than trees 613.798.2411 ottawa@jnf.ca

Lynda Taller-Wakter Executive Director

JEWISH NATIONAL FUND Holocaust Tributes and Monuments JNF’s six million “green memorial candles” and stunning monuments honour the martyrs who perished in the Holocaust. On Yom HaShoah, beginning on the evening of April 15, we remember.

Raoul Wallenberg Forest To coincide with Hungary assuming Chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, we remember Raoul Wallenberg. Referred to as the “man amidst inhumanity,” Raoul Wallenberg symbolizes the values of righteous gentiles as one man who saved close to 100,000 Hungarian Jews. He is also one of six honorary citizens of Canada, awarded the status posthumously in 1985. The JNF Wallenberg Forest was planted next to Haifa, where Wallenberg lived and worked in the 1930s for the Holland Bank. JNF Sweden dedicated this forest in 2012 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Wallenberg’s birth.

Martyr’s Forest Scroll of Fire Monument and Memorial Sites Constructed in 1968, the Scroll of Fire, a towering bronze monument, stands in the middle of the Martyrs Forest near Jerusalem. The sculpture by Nathan Rapoport (1911-1987) is shaped like a double Torah Scroll and tells the history of the Jewish people in relief. One scroll depicts the destruction of the Jewish nation in the time of the Romans and in the time of the Holocaust. The other scroll depicts the rebirth – the War of Independence, the establishment of the State of Israel, the unification of Jerusalem and the Six Day War. An aerial shot of the sculpture reveals a numerical figure 8. The number 8 in Judaism expresses the unpredictable, and the scroll leads its viewers from annihilation to redemption.

Within the trees of the forest is the Martyrs Cave (also called B’nai Brith Cave), a place to commune with the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Near the cave is JNF Holland’s Anne Frank Memorial Park, symbolizing her hope. To create your own living legacy, contact JNF Ottawa. On a daily basis you can plant trees for all occasions. An attractive card is sent to the recipient. To order, call the JNF office (613.798.2411).

www.JNFOttawa.ca

(From left) Torah Academy students Rivkah Lengler, Elisheva Simes, Sara Vais and Bayla Hoffman portray school girls discussing the purchase of a kiddush cup in A Kiddush Cup for Rebbetzin Krup.

Torah Academy girls present musical play BY RONJA SOROKA AND RABBI YISROEL GOLDBAUM TORAH ACADEMY OF OTTAWA

ttawa’s Jewish community got an extra dose of girl power, March 22, when Torah Academy of Ottawa presented A Kiddush Cup for Rebbetzin Krup, an all-girls musical play and dance production. Under the direction of Torah Academy teacher Shaindel Simes, the talented Grade 6, 7 and 8 girls put on a performance that was entertaining and inspiring. The play featured an original script and two original songs by Rachel Gray, live musical accompaniment by Gray and Jane Gitter, and dance numbers choreographed by Yehudis Stokes and Stacy Goldstein. “Send forth your bread upon the surface of the water, for after many days you will ﬁnd it (Kohelet 11:1),” was the play’s theme.

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The idea of what goes around comes around was portrayed through a series of events, spread out over many years that revolved around kiddush cups purchased in a particular silver store. A Kiddush Cup for Rebbetzin Krup was Torah Academy’s third annual production, and each year has attracted larger audiences than the one before. With growing interest from the community, this year’s play was presented at Congregation Machzikei Hadas, and the house was packed. All proceeds from the play were donated by the girls in equal amounts to Torah Academy of Ottawa and to Chai Lifeline, in memory of the Sassoon family, which lost seven children in a devastating ﬁre in Brooklyn on March 21. We are already looking forward to seeing what these talented students will present next year and hope to see everyone there!

April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

DID YOU KNOW? In 1972 Hillel Lodge was approved by the Province as an Ontario Extended Care Program, which provided operational funding for additional medical and physical assistance for 19 beds. Two more beds were added to the program in 1983. A third floor was added to the Home in 1973, with an additional 10 beds bringing the total at that time to 48 beds. The Abraham and Dora Lithwick Chapel was constructed in 1975 so that residents who were no longer able to travel to synagogue could have a Shul on site.

81st Annual General Meeting The Chair and President of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa Invite you to attend the Annual General Meeting of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa Wednesday, June 17, 2015 7:00 pm Social Hall The Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building 21 Nadolny Sachs Private

Refreshments to follow

Would you like to advertise in the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin? Contact Barry Silverman 613 798-4696, ext. 256 bsilverman@ottawajewishbulletin.com Or Haneshamah, Ottawa’s Reconstructionist congregation, is seeking a lead educator for an exciting children’s program launching in September 2015. Working with Rabbi Liz Bolton and volunteers, the educator for Machaneh Shabbat (Shabbat Camp) will take primary-school-age children on a journey of Jewish experiential learning. Do you have the knowledge and confidence to create hands-on learning activities that will inspire children to live Jewishly and grow into curious, engaged and ethical citizens? Are you ready to work with a team that aims to guide children in integrating their Jewish lives and values with the wider world? If you are eager to lead a fun and meaningful Shabbat morning learning experience unlike any other in Ottawa, please send your résumé and letter of interest to learning@orh.ca by April 20.

Breaking news updated daily at www.ottawajewishbulletin.com

April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

Tsabari: ‘Everything I write is about Israel’ Continued from page 8

“Maybe that’s exactly why you should write. Ever think about that?” The characters then continue to play a game in which they make poetry together out of the things that surround them. Later, the sister brings her brother a volume of poetry by the Baghdad-born Israeli poet Roni Someck. “The Poets in the Kitchen Window” was a very personal story, Tsabari said, because her father had always wanted to be a poet, but put it aside to go into a practical career, law, and to support his family of six children. He had been set to start studying poetry again in his early 40s when he passed away suddenly.

In the months since winning the Rohr prize, Tsabari said she often ﬁnds herself shaking her head without speaking – her way of expressing that she can’t articulate all the good things that have happened as a result. Random House has agreed to publish her next two books – a memoir and a novel – as well as publish The Best Place on Earth in the United States. Currently, it is published only in Canada, by HarperCollins Canada. But, even before winning the Rohr, Tsabari was earning recognition. She is in Israel on the Ontario Arts Council’s Chalmers Arts Fellowship, which supports artists in projects to advance their careers and inspire and inform their work.

Tsabari’s project: recording the stories and songs of elderly Yemenite women. The project is so exciting, she said, it gives her “goosebumps on a regular basis.” She isn’t quite sure how she will use the material she is collecting, but she feels an “urgency” to speak to these women since they are elderly and dying. Although she is a native Hebrew speaker, Tsabari now writes in English (The Best Place on Earth has not yet been translated into Hebrew). She compares writing in a new language to living in a new country, and said it feels like a “mirroring the act of migration.” It’s also another way of inhabiting new selves and new roles.

Netanyahu asks international community to insist on better Iran nuclear deal “unconscionable” and JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israeli pointed out that at the same Prime Minister Benjamin time that this is being Netanyahu called on the negotiated “Iran is acceleratinternational community to ing its campaign of terror, insist on a better deal with subjugation and conquest Iran over its nuclear throughout the region, most program. recently in Yemen.” Netanyahu made a public “The concessions offered statement, April 1, from the to Iran in Lausanne would Prime Minister’s Ofﬁce when ensure a bad deal that would negotiations between Iran Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endanger Israel, the Middle and the world powers East and the peace of the resumed in Lausanne, world. Now is the time for the interSwitzerland, after being extended by a national community to insist on a better day past the March 31 deadline to reach a deal,” Netanyahu said. framework agreement. A better deal, he said, would “signiﬁ“Evidently giving Iran’s murderous cantly roll back” Iran’s nuclear infraregime a clear path to the bomb is negotiable,” Netanyahu said, in reference structure and link the lifting of the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program to to a declaration made March 31, in which a change in Iran’s behaviour. the commander of Iran’s Basij militia, “Iran must stop its aggression in the Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, region, stop its terrorism throughout the stated that “Israel’s destruction is nonworld and stop its threats to annihilate negotiable.” Netanyahu called allowing Iran to keep Israel. That should be non-negotiable and underground nuclear facilities, advanced that’s the deal that the world powers must insist upon,” Netanyahu said. centrifuges and a heavy water reactor

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April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

Rabbi and imam ﬁnd common ground discussing extremism BY LOUISE RACHLIS FOR TEMPLE ISRAEL

abbi Steven Garten, rabbi emeritus of Temple Israel, and Imam Mohamad Jebara of the Cordova Spiritual Education Centre expressed similar visions at a panel discussion, “Between Extremism and a Secular World.” Held at the University of Ottawa on March 29, the discussion, co-sponsored by Temple Israel and the Cordova Centre, dealt with the Messianic Age of prophecy and issues of religion and nationalism. “The offshoot of prophecism often leads to extremist behaviour,” said Rabbi Garten. Anyone who impedes your vision of the Messianic form must be stopped, he said. “Extremism often is the result of misinterpretation of Messianic calling. It is fundamentally based on a belief that you have to bring the Messianic vision to the world.” “The Islamic vision is something similar,” said Imam Jebara. “There are many traditions that say the same thing ... The issue is how people apply it and usher in the Messianic age.” The imam said there is much Muslim literature on the topic. “The person who does bad for a good cause is like someone who washes a dirty garment in urine ... We want an age of peace, fulﬁlment

Rabbi Steven Garten (left) and Imam Mohamad Jebara discuss extremism at an interfaith dialogue event, March 29, at the University of Ottawa.

and completeness, but we want it done properly.” Discussing religion and nationalism, Rabbi Garten said, “Extremism is not limited to religious communities. Germany was the most educated country in the world, Italy had the oldest univer-

sity, and the result was fascism.” In Islam, religion is to be separated from the state, said Imam Jebara, “because there was a fear that government would usurp religion for political gain.” Much of what has been tried before

hasn’t been successful, he said. “Now the people of the Islamic world are in a state of confusion. What are we going to do next? All of the systems we’ve tried haven’t worked. Is there something else we haven’t understood? It’s still in the beginning stages.” Responding to a question about Zionism, Rabbi Garten said, “The question of the Palestinian people and the modern State of Israel are the results of a discussion in Paris after the First World War arbitrarily establishing countries in the Middle East that were not established countries. Out of 1919, came the notion of a British Mandate over the land of Palestine.” “That changed in 1947 when the UN decided there should be two countries in that land … We all live the results of those 68 years. Sixty-eight years of people struggling to understand how two peoples can struggle to live in the same land … “Most Israelis, if you spoke to them, would favour a two-state solution, if their rights were protected. Neither side has had leaders to make that happen.” The wide-ranging discussion “just scratched the surface,” said moderator Guy Matte, CEO of the Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue, opening the door for more such dialogue events in the future.

Advertorial

Making the Connection

Hillel Lodge seeks annual membership support By Carol Pascoe Our last article for “Life at the Lodge” in the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin provided a brief history of Hillel Lodge, starting with the inception of the idea, 60 years ago. To honour this special anniversary, the community will be invited to a celebratory event to be held at the Lodge, on Sunday, October 18. Another important event in the Hillel Lodge annual calendar is the imminent launch of our membership campaign. Membership in Hillel Lodge was an essential component of the Home’s (Corporate) development. Community leaders who saw their dreams realized with the building of the Lodge, first on Wurtemburg Street and later with the new facility on the Jewish Community Campus, taught by example the true meaning of membership.

From those early days to today, membership has been a tangible way to demonstrate community support for the Lodge. The Lodge depends on membership to measure the degree of community commitment and to ensure this vital institution can be sustained. The Government of Ontario, which funds a major proportion of the Lodge’s operating costs, views membership as key indicator of community support. What does it mean to be a member of the Lodge? Membership means a connection, being part of something real and wonderful. A direct result for residents and their families is the continuation of the “gold standard” of health care and program delivery for current Lodge residents. For the community, it means we can count on the Lodge to be there when our family, friends, neighbours, or we ourselves need the Lodge in the future.

There are many ways to enjoy one’s membership to the Lodge – just by walking through the front doors, by having lunch in the café, by volunteering for one of the many programs, and by seeing how your financial contribution is put to work. Members of the Lodge feel involved with life at the Lodge. They also receive Our Home, the annual Lodge publication, and are entitled to attend and vote at the Annual General Meeting, and to receive current information about the Lodge. To mark Hillel Lodge’s 60th anniversary, membership categories have been revised. Members who join for the first time or renew at $60 (or multiples thereof) will receive a set of six lovely notecards with original paintings by Lodge resident Morris Shapiro on the front.

Most would agree that Hillel Lodge is a major asset of our community. We encourage everyone to become a new member or to renew an existing membership to deepen your relationship with this wonderful institution. Thank you for supporting Hillel Lodge by participating in the 2015 membership campaign. Visit the Foundation office the week of April 20th to sign up for your membership. You can also visit www.hillel-ltc.com, and watch for the insert in the next issue of the Bulletin.

April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

PHOTO: BARRY SILVERMAN

Kosher Meals on Wheels: Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka, seen here in the Hillel Lodge kitchen with Kosher Meals on Wheels co-ordinator Lisa Bogdonov, helped prepare kosher meals, March 25, during the Ottawa Meals on Wheels Networkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Community Champions Week. Kosher Meals on Wheels delivers fresh meals on Wednesdays and Fridays and frozen meals on Mondays to shut-ins, convalescents and seniors in the community. For more information or to order meals, contact Lisa Bogdonov at 613-722-2225, ext. 315, or kmow@jfsottawa.com.

Shabbat 200: Women at Chabad Student Networkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Shabbat 200 dinner prepare small candles to be placed on the tables, March 13. Shabbat 200 is an annual Chabad Student Network event aimed at attracting 200 students to the Shabbat dinner.

Breaking news updated daily at www.ottawajewishbulletin.com

April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

Supreme Court justice visits Chabad Student Network: The Chabad Student Network hosted Supreme Court of Canada Justice Michael J. Maldaver, who spoke to the students, March 6, about how Judaism inspires him every day. (From left) Students Leila Ashuroff and Avi Weiss, Rabbi Chaim Boyarsky, Justice Maldaver, students Dana Abrams, Jackie Perlin, Vivian Grinfeld and Eve Wasserman.

In support of the Bess and Moe Greenberg Family Hillel Lodge In the Joseph and Inez Zelikovitz Long Term Care Centre

613-728-3990 Card Donations Card donations go a long way to improving the quality of life for our residents. Thank you for considering their needs and contributing to their well-being. On behalf of the residents and their families, we extend sincere appreciation to the following individuals and families who made card donations to the Hillel Lodge Long-Term Care Foundation between March 5 and 25, 2015 inclusive.

HONOUR FUNDS Unlike a bequest or gift of life insurance, which are realized some time in the future, a named Honour Fund (i.e., endowment fund) is established during your lifetime. By making a contribution of $1,000 or more, you can create a permanent remembrance for a loved one, honour a family member, declare what the Lodge has meant to you and/or support a cause that you believe in. A Hillel Lodge Honour Fund is a permanent pool of capital that earns interest or income each year. This income then supports the priorities designated by you, the donor. Ruth and Irving Aaron Family Fund In Memory of: Burton Stanley Cook by Ruth and Irving Aaron Samuel and Jean Akerman Memorial Fund In Honour of: Monica and Alvin Stein Wishing you a happy and healthy anniversary by Larry and Sheila Hartman

Friedberg and Dale Families Fund In Honour of: Adam Dodek Mazel Tov on being awarded the Law Society Medal by Elaine Friedberg and Bob Dale Malcolm and Vera Glube Endowment Fund R’fuah Shlema: Lee Silverstein by Malcolm and Vera Glube Jerry Kramer by Malcolm and Vera Glube Nell Gluck Memorial Fund In Honour of: Anna Shapira by Manny and Cheryle Gluck R’fuah Shlema: Sophie Koenig by Henry and Maureen Molot In Memory of: Evelyn Stanislawski by Henry and Maureen Molot Eric Weiner and Arlene Godrey Family Fund In Honour of: Laura Weiner by Carol Gradus Melissa Weiner by Carol Gradus Evelyn and Irving Greenberg Fund In Memory: Joseph Kerzner by Evelyn Greenberg and family Gunner Family Fund R’fuah Shlema: Gary Cohen by Sol and Estelle Gunner In Honour of: Roger and Elena Keen Mazel Tov on the birth of your grandson by Sol and Estelle Gunner

David, Harvey, Victor Kardish Family Fund In Honour of: Sally Taller by Margo, David, Aaron and Gail Kardish Nikki Shapiro by Margo, David, Aaron and Gail Kardish Morris and Lillian Kimmel Family Fund In Honour of: Tobin Kaiman In honour of your accomplishments by Auntie Brenda, Uncle Nate, Jessie and Daniel Sarah and Arnie Swedler Family Fund In Honour of: Annette Millstone Mazel Tov to you and your family on the birth of your great grand-daughter Freya Sky by Rhoda Zaitlin and Arnie Swedler Louis and Diane Tannenbaum Family Fund Dr. David Marvi by Diane Tannenbaum **************

************** IN HONOUR OF: Mark Tolchinsky by Bill and Laurie Chochinov Bert Palmer by Helen, Evelyn and Sylvia Monson IN MEMORY OF: Leonna Merson by Bev and Bryan Glube; and Joy and Eric Weisbloom; the Ottawa B’nai Brith Bowling League; and Marion Silver, Alan Brass and family Piney Pollock by Raylene and Nassie Godel and family; Marilyn Adler; Carol Gradus; and Dr. Max Vechter and the Vechter family Stephania Wysolinska by Marilyn Adler R’FUAH SHLEMA: Norman Swedko by the Sauve Families Norma Lazear by the Sauve families Mark Zunder by the Sauve families Stephen Saslove by the Sauve families

and Shore and Shore and Shore and Shore

Feeding Program In Memory of: Solly Patrontasch by Barbara and Steve Levinson Bernard (Bernie) Blumenthal by Barbara and Steve Levinson In Honour of: Bev and Bryan Glube Mazel Tov on Allison’s engagement to Noah Schwartz by Barbara and Steve Levinson Therapeutic Program In Memory of: Piney Pollock by Carol Gradus

Watch for exciting things to come!

THE LODGE EXPRESSES ITS SINCERE APPRECIATION FOR YOUR KIND SUPPORT AND APOLOGIZES FOR ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS. DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS, THE WORDING APPEARING IN THE BULLETIN IS NOT NECESSARILY THE WORDING WHICH APPEARED ON THE CARD.

GIVING IS RECEIVING – ATTRACTIVE CARDS AVAILABLE FOR ALL OCCASIONS Here’s a great opportunity to recognize an event or convey the appropriate sentiment to someone important to you and at the same time support the Lodge. Call orders may be given to Cathie at 728-3900, ext 111, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. You may also go to: www.hillel-ltc.com and click on the “Donate Now” button to make your donations. Cards may be paid for by Visa or Mastercard. Contributions are tax deductible.

April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

Advertorial

The Land of Opportunity:

Introducing a New Way to Invest in Israel Israel is setting a new standard for innovation. The country’s thriving entrepreneurial spirit, exceptional workforce, intrepid culture, and resilient economy makes for an ideal environment for investors to invest their money. “Investors, whether corporate or individuals, have long seen Israel as a land of opportunity. In fact, it’s not just investors who feel this way. Since the nation’s founding, people from all over the world and from all walks of life have travelled to Israel to experience its unique culture and learn more about its proud history. We want to capture that passion and provide an investment strategy around their growing economy,” says Alan Blostein, Vice-President at CIBC Wood Gundy. The proof is in the numbers. Over the last 20 years, the Tel Aviv Index (TASE-25 IDX) performed at a rate of 11.87% compounded. Compare that to the 8.77% for the S&P 500 and 7.9% of the TSX. What does all this mean? Imagine you invested $250,000 in the Tel Aviv index over a 20-year period. Your investment would have grown to $2,356,203 today.

A land of opportunity, indeed! Yet, navigating Israel’s business landscape can be a challenge for those who aren’t familiar with the terrain. What investors need is an easy, effective way to participate in the country’s economy. Alan Blostein and Stacey Beumer saw the demand and created just that. Thanks to the “Israel & Friends Stock Portfolio™,” designed and managed by Blostein and Beumer, investors now have a simple way to take advantage of the opportunities available in Israel. “We knew there was an opportunity to create a portfolio around investing in an Israel-focused stock investment,” says Stacey Beumer, CFA, Portfolio Manager at CIBC Wood Gundy. “The trouble was, there were limited options, so we decided to build our own investment strategy from scratch.” The Israel & Friends™ Stock Portfolio comprises 20-25 individual companies, half of which are based in Israel, the other half consisting of international companies

with a strong footprint in Israel. This Portfolio is offered exclusively through The Blostein-Beumer Investment Group. A minimum investment of $150,000 USD is required.

In 2006, Warren Buffet, the standard-bearer for risk aversion, broke his decades-long practice of owning only U.S. companies and made a $4.5 billion dollar investment in an Israeli company.

The Blostein-Beumer Investment Group, with more than 40 years of providing investment advice, is well versed when it comes to understanding the thriving commerce and technology in the region. Blostein has visited Israel numerous times, and was part of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s delegation on a trade mission to Israel in 2014. “Their young, educated, and driven workforce drives the innovation and success of their companies. It’s just an incredible country,” says Blostein.

If you are an investor looking to take advantage of the exciting opportunities available in Israel, look no further. The Blostein-Beumer Investment Group’s Israel & Friends™ Stock Portfolio is your chance to participate in the Israeli economy.

Israeli companies are in demand because they are entrepreneurial, competitive, and world leaders in technological and pharmaceutical innovation. Many multinational companies have realized this such as Nestlé, Google and Microsoft – they have put their money into Israeli start-ups or opened research and development centres there.

Source: Start Up Nation by Dan Senor and Saul Siger. Alan Blostein and Stacey Beumer are Investment Advisors with CIBC Wood Gundy in Ottawa. The views of Alan Blostein and Stacey Beumer do not necessarily reflect those of CIBC World Markets Inc. CIBC Wood Gundy is a division of CIBC World Markets Inc., a subsidiary of CIBC and a Member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. If you are currently a CIBC Wood Gundy client, please contact your Investment Advisor.

To find out whether this Portfolio is right for you, please call The BlosteinBeumer Investment Group at 613 2392946. It only takes a few minutes, so call today!

April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

Fictional Israeli politician, a former Soviet refusenik, returns to Crimea The Betrayers By David Bezmozgis HarperCollins 225 pages

oronto-based writer David Bezmozgis – who began his career with a short story in The New Yorker – continues to win acclaim. His ﬁrst book, Natasha and Other Stories – a collection dealing largely with people of his heritage, refuseniks from Soviet Latvia who made it to Toronto – was a mix of magic and irony. He followed it with a novel, The Free World, again about Latvian refuseniks, which was short-listed for the Giller Prize. His latest, The Betrayers, is a short novel, this time about refuseniks from the Russian heartland, most of whom made it to Israel. It begins with the arrival in Yalta of Baruch Kotler, an important Israeli politician described as “a pot-bellied little man,” and his beautiful young mistress, Leora. Kotler – who bears some resemblance in background and description to Natan Sharansky – is famous for the

years he spent in the Soviet Gulag, and it is through his strong character that he attracts a beautiful mistress. Leora is his secretary, the daughter of fellow refuseniks. She is, or was, a friend of Kotler’s daughter, son and wife. They skipped out of Israel because Kotler – who opposes a government plan to demolish West Bank settlements – is being blackmailed over his affair with Leora. He refuses to give in to the blackmail. In the background is a prime minister who is never named and doesn’t show up, but there are hints he was based on Benjamin Netanyahu. “The prime minister was many things, but he was no amateur,” writes Bezmozgis. All this becomes known in the ﬁrst few pages. The narrative technique is skilful, with metaphors that are sharp and move the story along. “All the while, a current passed between him and Leora, like the invisible data that streamed between all the new machines,” writes Bezmozgis near the beginning of the book.

MURRAY CITRON BOOK REVIEW Then, near the end: “Kotler stood by the roadside. A truck plunged through the amplitude of dense air, and a wave of it washed over and staggered him. He had tried to do right, he thought, but had caused a great deal of hurt, even more than he’d expected.” Almost all the action of the novel takes place in Crimea. We learn what is happening back home the same way Baruch and Leora do, by way of cell phone. There are two plots. One happens in Crimea and brings back the past, the betrayal of Kotler by a Jewish KGB agent. The other is happening back home in Israel and involves the settlements and Kotler’s family. The title is deliberately chosen. Nearly everybody in the book betrays somebody. Moral dilemmas sprout. The story is set in a ﬁctional present. Russia has not yet annexed Crimea and Ukraine is not at war. Israel’s government looks like the one we know, but it is prepared to forcibly evacuate the settlements. It tells us things about the real present. Russia and Ukraine are seen as Middle Eastern countries and Israel, at least part of the time, is a post-Soviet republic, with many Slavic ways of doing things. And there is sex, as beﬁts a novel. There are Kotler and Leora, but also a number of older, hard-bitten women and a randy rabbi who, collectively, project a sly eroticism onto the political landscape. The plot in Crimea has a logical conclusion. The plot back in Israel has a conclusion that is sensational and completely unpredictable.

April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

Is the animosity between Obama and Netanyahu beyond repair?

urim may be over. But Haman is alive and well and living in the White House. So says Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, chief rabbi of Efrat. “The president of the United States is lashing out at Israel just like Haman lashed out at the Jews,” the respected American-born rabbi said in a speech at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue 10 days after the March 17 Israeli election. That same weekend, high-proﬁle American Rabbi Shmuley Boteach ran a full page ad in the New York Times comparing U.S. President Barack Obama to Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister who in 1938 signed the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler. This act of appeasement, which Chamberlain described as representing “peace for our time,” emboldened Hitler, who invaded Poland and triggered the start of the Second World War only 11 months after the agreement. “Mr. President: Fighting Al-Qaeda made you like Churchill. Appeasing Iran will make you like Chamberlain,” said the ad, which urged Obama to demand that Iran repudiate genocidal threats against Israel, stop supporting terrorism and condemn the persecution and public executions of women and homosexuals as preconditions to any deal that would allow Iran to possess nuclear capability. “Don’t allow Iran to become a nuclear power,” the ad pleads. Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick, meanwhile, argues that Obama has “gone to war against Israel” because he views the election results “as an opportunity to market his anti-Israel and pro-Iranian positions to the American public.” Wow, that’s some enemy Israel is facing – if the situation is really that bad. Is the animosity between Obama and re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu beyond repair? Were

BARBARA CROOK

MY ISRAEL

Netanyahu’s election eve remarks dismissing Arab voters and giving up on negotiations with the Palestinians enough to cause a permanent rift with Israel’s most powerful ally? Is Obama really prepared to throw Israel under the bus because he was outmanoeuvred by a slick Israeli prime minister who dared to charm the U.S. Congress and expose the ﬂaws in the president’s nuclear deal with Iran? Netanyahu did himself no favours by announcing before the election that there would be no Palestinian state under his watch. Although he has since scrambled to explain that what he really meant was that a two-state solution wasn’t possible given the Palestinian Authority’s alliance with Hamas, that’s not what he said at the time. More troublesome was Netanyahu’s Election Day warning to his right wing supporters that “left wing NGOs” were bringing Arab voters “in droves” to the polls. Although he has frantically backpedalled to insist that he didn’t mean to disparage Israeli Arabs and their right to vote, the remark was offensive and divisive. Netanyahu’s appeals to the fear and loathing of the most narrow-minded of his supporters helped him win the election, but it deepened the rift with the already hostile Obama. However, the U.S. response to Netanyahu’s remarks has been remarkably petty and disproportionate – the equivalent of a presidential temper tantrum. Instead of simply expressing disagreement and moving

on to address common concerns, the Obama administration has continued to scold Netanyahu publicly, and is clearly threatening to withdraw its support of Israel at the UN. What about Glick’s assertion that Obama has “gone to war” against Israel? There is no doubt U.S. foreign policy under Obama has tilted away from its traditional allies, particularly in the Mideast. New York Times columnist Ross Douthat describes this as a shift from the “Pax Americana” model, in which the U.S. “enjoys a dominant position within a network of allies and clients,” to a strategy called “offshore balancing.” Under this system, the U.S. would have fewer commitments and obligations, and regional powers would bear the primary responsibility for dealing with crises. So “resolving” the issue of Iran’s nukes would somehow enable it to become a responsible partner in the region. Besides the fact that the U.S. is far too entangled in the Mideast to even consider taking a back seat, the idea of making Iran a credible power willfully ignores its determination to wipe Israel off the map. Obama’s determination to pursue a deal with Iran at all costs prompted 367 members of the U.S. Congress to sign an open letter reminding the president that Congress has to approve any deal and that it can ultimately refuse to lift sanctions against Iran. And 47 U.S. senators have signed a letter reminding “the Islamic Republic of Iran” that any deal could be rolled back by the next president. Obama may not be Haman. But thinking he can tame an Islamist rogue state while turning his back on Israel – as Neville Chamberlain sacriﬁced Czechoslovakia to appease Hitler – makes his naiveté increasingly dangerous to the Jewish state. Let’s hope U.S. lawmakers who aren’t blinded by hurt feelings and a need to punish Israelis for re-electing Netanyahu can restore the U.S. to its proper role as Israel’s ally.

Less is more with high-intensity interval training

erobics classes became a fitness trend in the 1970s, and are still very popular. For decades, it was believed that exercising at a moderate-intensity continuous or steady state was the best way to burn calories and lose fat. Now we know that spending more time exercising isn’t always better. A short-duration type of exercise called high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been found to be more effective for fat burning and muscle preservation. HIIT is not a new form of exercise. Earlier versions with different names originated in the 1960s. What’s bringing it into the spotlight is the abundance of scientific studies supporting its benefits over traditional, lengthier cardio workouts. Is HIIT the best kind of exercise? Should you abandon aerobic exercise? Let’s take a look. HIIT is a series of short spurts of high-intensity exercises and slower-paced active recovery. The aim of HIIT is to elevate your heartrate to 80-95 per cent of your maximum heart rate (MHR) for a short period followed by a moderate-intensity (50 per cent MHR) recovery period. You’ll know you’re working at a high intensity when you’re breathing hard and can’t speak. If you’re a numbers person, estimate your MHR by subtracting your age from 220. A 50-year-old’s MHR is roughly 170. Eighty to 95 per cent of that is 136 to 161 beats per minute. There’s no precise protocol for a HITT workout. The high-intensity periods can be 20 to 30 seconds and the recovery periods can be up to 60 to 90 seconds or even longer. HIIT can include three to 10 rounds. The number of rounds and the length of active and recovery periods

GLORIA SCHWARTZ

FOCUS ON FITNESS depend on your level of fitness. A beginner may choose to start with a 1:3 ratio, performing 20 seconds of high-intensity work and 60 seconds of recovery for three rounds. That’s a total of just four minutes, plus a fiveminute warm-up and a five-minute cool-down period. Because HIIT intervals are short, you can exercise at the upper end of your aerobic capacity, which would be impossible to maintain in an hour-long aerobics class or a marathon. A few minutes of HIIT is more effective for fat burning and lowering insulin resistance than steadystate exercise. Because HIIT is intense, your body uses more energy (calories) to repair itself in the 24-hour period afterwards, known as the after-burn. Therefore, your resting metabolism improves. HIIT can also improve your VO2 max, meaning it increases the amount of oxygen your body takes in while exercising. As your body adapts from multiple HIIT workouts over time, you’ll be in better shape for other activities as well. Unlike steady-state aerobic exercise, you won’t lose muscle as a result of HIIT. When you run a marathon or perform other long, slower cardio exercise, your body enters a muscle-wasting catabolic state, using muscle for

energy to keep going. HIIT workouts are anabolic – they maintain and can even help you gain muscle because they employ your fast-twitch muscle fibres in your thighs. Notice that marathoners tend to have less muscular legs than sprinters. To get started, download a free HIIT timer app to your smartphone. When you’re exhausting yourself, you may not be able to focus on a watch or clock. Set the times and number of intervals on the HIIT timer and choose sound effects to prompt you. You can perform the timed intervals on a cardio machine such as a stationary bike, rowing machine or treadmill. You can also do HIIT by swimming, running outdoors or performing exercises such as burpees or jumping jacks that employ your large muscle groups. Some fitness pros advocate giving up aerobic exercise in favour of HIIT. But, too much HIIT can stress the body and potentially put you into a chronic physiological fight-or-flight state, which is unhealthy. Doing the same kind of exercise week after week, whether it’s HIIT or aerobic exercise, can lead to repetitive use injuries or a plateau. Some experts believe that periodization is more effective; that is, a few weeks of HIIT then a few weeks of aerobics. Start with one HIIT workout per week and progress to no more than three to avoid over-training. Always check with your medical doctor before starting a new exercise program. If you’re currently inactive, older or overweight, you may find HIIT unpleasant and too intense. Whatever your level of fitness, choose physical activities that you enjoy, that are safe and suitable for you, and that keep you challenged.

April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

Israeli election results set off intense debate in the Diaspora

aybe it’s because the use of social media is increasing exponentially, but the March 17 Israeli election seemed to set off a Diaspora debate whose intensity seems unmatched to that of elections past. For partisans, part of it, no doubt, is the emotional roller coaster unleashed by the misleading exit polls on Election Day and opinion polls published in the days prior. All this led Zionist Union voters and their supporters – in Israel and abroad – to feel gobsmacked after feeling giddy for days. And part of it was the nasty aftertaste left by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s two statements in the campaign’s homestretch: one, a warning to his supporters that Arab-Israelis were coming to vote “in droves,” and the other, a video interview in which he declared there would be no Palestinian state on his watch. Voter motivations are complex at the best of times. In Israel, divining voter preferences has become increasingly challenging given the evolution of what was traditionally a political spectrum deﬁned by security policy to one deﬁned equally, if not more so, by socioeconomic issues. Still, given Netanyahu’s election-eve statement about quashing hopes for a Palestinian state, it’s not surprising that many, in their gut, interpreted the election as a referendum on the occupation. Zachary Braiterman, a professor of modern Jewish thought and philosophy at Syracuse University, wrote on his blog, Jewish Philosophy Place, that “it’s us or him,” and that “by rejecting the two-state solution, he tore out the only thing standing in the way of Israel turning into bi-national state apartheid state.” As reported in Haaretz, White House Chief of Staff

MIRA SUCHAROV

VALUES, ETHICS, COMMUNITY A two-state solution [is] the best one, for any practical, Jewish, democratic and justice-based perspective. Denis McDonough told a J Street conference that “Israel cannot maintain military control of another people indeﬁnitely” and that “an occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end.” And philosopher Sam Fleischacker wrote, in an extended Facebook post that went viral, “We have long faced the possibility that we will have to choose between a Jewish but undemocratic Israel and a democratic Israel that is no longer a Jewish state. The choice is here now and I favour democracy. The thing to work for now is one person, one vote, from the river to the sea: voting rights for all Palestinians under Israeli rule. … It breaks my heart to say this, but today I don’t feel I can call myself a Zionist any longer.” Sure, we could take Netanyahu’s remarks “with a grain of salt,” as Israeli Ambassador Rafael Barak urged at a

post-election brieﬁng I participated in on March 19. Netanyahu himself sought to do some damage control, telling NPR on March 20: “I said the conditions have to change. … You know, I don’t want a one-state solution. But I certainly don’t want a zero-state solution, a no-state solution, where Israel’s very existence would be jeopardized. And that’s what the people of Israel overwhelmingly elected me to do.” But, whatever Netanyahu meant by his original statement, the fact is that, with settlements continuing apace, and an ongoing Israeli campaign to delegitimize the Palestinian leadership, and more generations of Palestinian children subject to middle-of-the-night interrogations by Israeli soldiers coming in full night-warrior gear into their bedrooms, the conditions will only get worse – not more propitious – for a Palestinian state. So, what, in the Diaspora, is to be done? There are those who believe – like Rabbi Shmuley Boteach wrote in a harsh essay in the Jerusalem Post addressed to liberal Zionist Peter Beinart – that criticizing the election outcome is a sign of a sore loser, and is especially out of place coming from the Diaspora. There are others, like Beinart, who believe pressure should be placed on Israel’s government. And there is the White House, which has made clear that it is reconsidering diplomatic options. While U.S. aid levels are unlikely to change, one could picture the U.S. no longer exercising its automatic veto to protect Israel in the United Nations. As for me, I think the “ism” discussions – liberal Zionism, statist Zionism, cultural Zionism, anti-Zionism, and so on – are increasingly misplaced. Those are private ideological commitments that sometimes obscure policy discussions. Some, like Fleischacker, who were die-hard two-staters, are now calling for pressure to grant the vote to everyone under Israeli rule. To my mind, this sounds like an OK place to start, until such time that a two-state solution – the best one, from any practical, Jewish, democratic and justice-based perspective – reappears on the horizon.

As she approaches graduation, Campus Life columnist says, “Thank you, Ottawa. Bye for now!”

he semester is quickly coming to a close and many students are faced with an array of exciting – and possibly overwhelming – options for the upcoming years. As the next chapters of our lives beckon, we have the unique privilege of deciding what journey we wish to embark on next. From various conversations I’ve had with peers, I understand that, for many, university graduation is accompanied by anxieties and worries for the future, and many graduating students are still trying to figure out their next moves. University presented each of us with various obstacles, challenging us to work harder, to better ourselves as contributing members of society, and to establish and foster our uniquely individual identities. Being Jewish, we are a minority on campus. We did not let our identities and religious affiliation hold us back. Rather, we used it as a link to get involved with Ottawa’s Jewish community and to make our mark. From my own experience, my university career allowed my Jewish identity to flourish and grow. This has been a time in my life where I have become more involved than I have ever been in a Jewish community – and that is something that I will always be grateful for. The past few years have taught me great amounts about myself. I learned how to be an advocate for Israel and how to be an impactful leader of our Jewish student body. I learned how to multi-task and priori-

ARIELLE ELLIS

CAMPUS LIFE

tize my time. I learned the value of true friends and of real lasting relationships. I learned the feeling of dependence and that of true independence. I have experienced triumphs and challenges, love and loss, trial and error. I promise to take all I have learned from living in Ottawa and carry that with me wherever my future takes me. Ottawa is a gem of a city, and I will continue to represent its vibrant community wherever I go, encouraging other students to make the same decision as I did in choosing to spend my university career here. For those who may be starting your university journey in the coming years, consider the following while deciding which institution to attend. Go to the school that holds the most promise and the most opportunity. Go for your program of study and for the city it resides in. Your true friends from high school will continue to be your friends regardless of whether

you attend the same university. Wherever you go, make the most of the experience. Get involved in student affairs and campus life. Become a leader in the community, participate in various clubs, and contribute to multiple organizations. Each of these things will enrich your university experience and you will graduate feeling incredibly fulﬁlled and accomplished for investing so much of your time and energy into these groups and activities. Stay true to yourself, work hard, enjoy every moment, and proudly wear your Jewish identity. Ottawa has allowed me to grow as an individual, giving me so much more than I ever expected my undergraduate experience would. The warmth and friendly atmosphere this city exudes is truly spectacular. I have only been here for a few years, but it feels like home. Although I am leaving the city for the time being to attend law school, I do feel as though it will always be a place I am comfortable returning to. I leave this city with bittersweet feelings, though convinced there is a bright future for Ottawa’s Jewish student body. I am sure it will only continue to cultivate and thrive, enhancing the university experiences of many Jewish university students to come. Thank you for your hospitality, Ottawa. It’s been a wonderful few years, full of adventures I won’t soon forget.

April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

foundation donations

| Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation

Our future is in your hands To make a donation and/or send a tribute card, call the Foundation office (613-798-4696 ext. 274) e-mail: tributecards@ojcf.ca website: www.OJCF.ca

Join us in building our community by supporting these local agencies AJA 50+ ENDOWMENT FUND In Appreciation to: Ted Bonder by Maureen Katz and Sidney Featherman. R’fuah Sh’leimah to: Roberta Goldmaker by Maureen Katz and Sidney Featherman. BARRY FISHMAN OTTAWA JEWISH BULLETIN SCHOLARSHIP FUND Birthday Wishes to: Joe Murray by Barry Silverman. JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES AGENCY FUND R’fuah Sh’leimah to: Mark Zunder by Sandra and Norman Slover. OTTAWA JEWISH COMMUNITY SCHOOL ENDOWMENT FUND Condolences to: Nancy and Ryan Hartman and family on the loss of a dear father and grandfather, Majer Chowet by Jessica, Marc, Jack and Leo Borenstein. AJA 50+ DAVID SMITH OTTAWA JEWISH COMMUNITY SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP FUND AKIVA EVENING HIGH SCHOOL ENDOWMENT FUND ADINA BEN PORAT MACHON SARAH TORAH EDUCATION FUND SHIRLEY AND SHIER BERMAN FUND FOR OTTAWA JEWISH ARCHIVES DORIS BRONSTEIN TALMUD TORAH AFTERNOON SCHOOL FUND MARTIN GLATT PARLIAMENT LODGE B’NAI BRITH PAST PRESIDENTS’ FUND MENDEL AND VALERIE GOOD HOLOCAUST CONTINUING EDUCATION FUND GREENBERG FAMILIES LIBRARY FUND FUND FOR THE NEXT GENERATION HILLEL LODGE LEGACY FUND JEWISH COMMUNITY CEMETERY HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FUND JEWISH MEN’S SOFTBALL LEAGUE FUND JEWISH STUDENTS ASSOCIATION HILLEL FUND JEWISH YOUTH LIBRARY OF OTTAWA ENDOWMENT FUND

DAVID “THE BEAR” KARDASH CAMP B’NAI BRITH MEMORIAL FUND OTTAWA JEWISH CEMETERIES ZICHARON FUND OTTAWA JEWISH COMMUNITY ENDOWMENT FUND OTTAWA JEWISH COMMUNITY SCHOOL PARENT FUND OTTAWA JEWISH COMMUNITY SCHOOL AGENCY FUND OTTAWA JEWISH COMMUNITY SCHOOL CHILDREN OF THE BOOK AWARD FUND OTTAWA JEWISH COMMUNITY SCHOOL FUND IN MEMORY OF EVA WINTROB OTTAWA JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY FUND OTTAWA LODGE B’NAI BRITH #885 PAST PRESIDENTS FUND OTTAWA LODGE B’NAI BRITH #885 PRESIDENTS SCHOLARSHIP FUND OTTAWA MODERN JEWISH SCHOOL FUND OTTAWA POST JEWISH WAR VETERANS FUND OTTAWA TORAH INSTITUTE TORAH EDUCATION FUND PINCHAS ZUKERMAN MUSIC EDUCATION FUND RAMBAM MAIMONIDES JEWISH CONTINUITY FUND SOLOWAY JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTRE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FUND SOLOWAY JEWISH COMMUNITY SUMMER CAMP SCHOLARSHIP FUND SOLOWAY JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTRE ENDOWMENT FUND SOLOWAY JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTRE YOUTH SERVICES FUND TORAH ACADEMY OF OTTAWA TORAH EDUCATION FUND SARA AND ZEEV VERED ISRAEL CULTURAL PROGRAM FUND

The Board of Directors of the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation acknowledges with thanks contributions to the following funds as of March 23, 2015. ABELSON FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND In Memory of: Piney Pollock by Bob and Lois Abelson. Evelyn Stanislawski by Alan Abelson and Tracey Kronick. R’fuah Sh’leimah to: Norman Swedko by Alan Abelson and Tracey Kronick. ARNOLD AND BELLA ABRAHAMSON MEMORIAL FUND In Memory of: Piney Pollock by Ann and Mark Dover and family. ROSE AND LOUIS ACHBAR MEMORIAL FUND In Memory of: Frances English by Zelda Freedman. Mazel Tov to: Dorothy Hymes on her granddaughter’s wedding by Zelda Freedman. CLAIRE AND IRVING BERCOVITCH ENDOWMENT FUND In Memory of: David Rosenfeld by Claire Bercovitch. Mazel Tov to: Leah Miller by Claire Bercovitch. JAMIE BEREZIN ENDOWMENT FUND In Memory of: Piney Pollock by Shelley, Gary and Jamie Berezin; and by Susan and Frank Danoff. BARRY AND MARCIA CANTOR COMMUNITY ENDOWMENT FUND In Memory of: Burton Cook by Maureen Katz and Sidney Featherman. TILLIE AND HARRY CHERM MEMORIAL FUND In Memory of: Paul Eye by Janice Kaiman. SANDI AND EDDY COOK ENDOWMENT FUND Birthday Wishes to: Laurie Jenshil by Sandi and Eddy Cook and family. In Memory of: Solly Patrontasch by Sandi and Eddy Cook and family. Piney Pollock by Sandi and Eddy Cook and family. COOPERMAN-SHUSTER FAMILY FUND In Memory of: Naomi Bulka by the Cooperman family. NATHAN AND REBA DIENER ENDOWMENT FUND In Memory of: Robert Raucher by John and Dayra Diener. ELLEN AND RAHAMIM FATHI ENDOWMENT FUND In Memory of: Solly Patrontasch by Ellen, Michael and Tamara Fathi. MARJORIE AND MICHAEL FELDMAN FAMILY FUND Birthday Wishes to: Michael Feldman by Ray and Ernie Goldstein.

JOSEPH AND BETTY FELLER ENDOWMENT FUND In Memory of: Joseph Feller by The Dym family; and by Diane and Roby Sasson. HOWARD HERZL GOLDBERG MEMORIAL FUND Condolences to: Lindi Rivers and family on the loss of a dear husband and father by Helene, Shawn, Chaim and Aaron Goldberg. NATHAN AND SARAH GREENBERG MEMORIAL FUND In Memory of: Dr. Piney Pollock by Evelyn Greenberg. LARRY AND SHEILA HARTMAN ENDOWMENT FUND Mazel Tov to: Joan and Russell Kronick on the birth of their granddaughter, Delia by Sheila and Larry Hartman. EDIE AND ERWIN KORANYI ENDOWMENT FUND In Memory of: Marta Sebor by Evelyn Greenberg. KRANTZBERG KRANE FAMILY FUND In Memory of: Morris Berlin by Evelyn Krane and family. SUSAN AND DAVID KRIGER ENDOWMENT FUND Birthday Wishes to: Beverly Hymes-Vandermeulen by Susan and David Kriger. In Observance of the Yahrzeit of: Akiva Kriger, a dear father by Susan and David Kriger. ISSIE AND EDITH LANDAU ENDOWMENT FUND Birthday Wishes to: Edie Landau by Maureen Katz. Condolences to: Ronan Lederman and family on the loss of his dear mother by Edie Landau and family. In Memory of: Florence Goldberg by Edie Landau. Piney Pollock by Edie Landau. THE LEVITZ FAMILY FUND In Memory of: Solly Patrontasch by the Levitz family. SEYMOUR AND JOY MENDER FAMILY FUND Mazel Tov to: Bryan and Beverley Glube on Alison’s engagement by Joy, Seymour, Jess, David and Jared Mender. RHODA AND JEFFREY MILLER FAMILY FUND In Memory of: Jenny Rimoin by Rhoda and Jeffrey Miller. Evelyn Stanislawski by Rhoda and Jeffrey Miller. Mazel Tov to: Ken and Tina Koffman on the birth of their new grandson by Rhoda and Jeffrey Miller and family. NORMAN AND ANNE MIRSKY MEMORIAL FUND In Memory of: Piney Pollock by Millie and Steve Mirsky. Continued on page 22

April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

foundation donations TANYA AND SAMUEL MOSES MORIN MEMORIAL FUND In Appreciation to: Natalie and Tom Gussman by Harvey Morin. PINKAS AND YEHUDIT NEWMAN MEMORIAL FUND In Memory of: Frances English by William and Marilyn Newman. THE OTTAWA LION OF JUDAH ENDOWMENT FUND In Memory of: Solly Patrontasch by Leiba Krantzberg. Ellen Waters by Leiba Krantzberg and Michael Metz. ABE AND BERTHA PALMER ENDOWMENT FUND In Observance of the Yahrzeit of: Bertha Palmer by Larry Weisz. EVELYN AND NORMAN POTECHIN ENDOWMENT FUND R’fuah Sh’leimah to: Norman Swedko by Bram and Dodie Potechin. GERALD AND MARY-BELLE PULVERMACHER FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND In Memory of: Marilyn Rosentzveig by Gerry and Mary-Belle Pulvermacher.

| Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation

ELAYNE AND WESLEY SCHACTER ENDOWMENT FUND Mazel Tov to: Bryan and Beverley Glube on Alison’s engagement by Elayne, Wesley, Adam, Josh, Anne Marie, Mackenzie and Michael Schacter. SOL AND ZELAINE SHINDER ENDOWMENT FUND In Appreciation to: Sol and Zelaine Shinder by Russell and Joanie Kronick. SAM AND SUE SLACK ENDOWMENT FUND Mazel Tov to: Bryan and Beverley Glube on Alison’s engagement by David, Sharon, Ryan, Yoni, Jaye and Brody Appotive. THE DAVID SMITH FUND FOR JEWISH LIFE Happy Passover to: Ruth and Irving Aaron and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Orly and Stanley Aaron and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Stuart and Leila Ages and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Jack and Bina Esther Botwinik and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Rabbi Menachem and Dina Blum and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Rabbi Reuven and Leah Bulka and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Brittany, David and Asher James Cantor by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg.

Marcia and Barry Cantor and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Josef and Devora Caytak and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Barbara and Sidney Cohen and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Marlene and Howard Cohen and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Rabbi Howard and Rivka Finkelstein and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Andrea Freedman and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Jonathan Freedman and Aviva Ben-Choreen and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Rose-Anne Freedman and Sidney Goldstein and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Sharon Sholzberg-Gray and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. The Gluss family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Steve and Laurie Gordon and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Carol Greenberg and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Linda and Steven Kerzner and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Betina Kuzmarov and Ian Appel and families by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Sally and Elliott Levitan and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. David and Adele Loeb and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Jackie and David Lyman and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Michael Metz and family by David Smith. Rhoda and Jeff Miller and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Ruth and Arnon Miller and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Sheila and Joe Nadrich and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Dorothy Nadolny and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Ellen Nadolny and Frank Grimsley and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Lawrence and Chantelle Nadolny and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Lynda Nadolny and Bruce Cowley and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Joseph and Heather Paperman and family by David Smith. Jason and Jenny Shinder by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Aaron, Erin, Ruben, Georgia and Jack Smith by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Nathan, Cindy, Sabrina and Jessica Smith by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Charles Schachnow and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Clement Srour and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. Sharon and Lawrence Weinstein and family by David Smith and Leiba Krantzberg. In Memory of: Bernard Blumenthal by David Smith. Mazel Tov to: Marcia and Barry Cantor on the birth of their grandson by David Smith. JACK AND LINDA SMITH ENDOWMENT FUND In Observance of the Yahrzeit of: Inez Smith by Leslie Smith and Maureen McIlwain. DORIS AND RICHARD STERN FAMILY FUND Birthday Wishes to: Reesa Feinstein by Doris and Richard Stern.

CASEY AND BESS SWEDLOVE ENDOWMENT FUND Birthday Wishes to: Bess Swedlove by Sheila Cooper. SALLY AND MAX TALLER FAMILY FUND Mazel Tov to: Kim and Ilan Cyzner on the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter, Jayden Tess by Sally Taller. Wendy and Jess Zelikovitz on the Bat Mitzvah of their granddaughter, Jayden Tess by Sally Taller. STEPHEN AND GAIL VICTOR ENDOWMENT FUND Anniversary Wishes to: Stephen and Gail Victor by Evelyn Greenberg. In Memory of: Piney Pollock by Stephen and Gail Victor. Stephen Rivers by Stephen and Gail Victor. RUTH AND JOSEPH VINER ENDOWMENT FUND In Observance of the Yahrzeit of: Herb Viner by Ruth Viner. R’fuah Sh’leimah to: Mark Zunder by Ruth Viner. MILDRED AND PERCY WEINSTEIN ENDOWMENT FUND R’fuah Sh’leimah to: Mark Zunder by Millie Weinstein. IRVING AND DIANE WEXLER FAMILY FUND In Memory of: Piney Pollock by Diane Wexler and family. THE WOMEN’S COLLECTIVE PHILANTHROPY PROGRAM Providing support for services and programs that directly benefit women and children. WOMEN’S COLLECTIVE ENDOWMENT FUND Mazel Tov to: Lauren Bronstein and Noam Katz on the birth of their son by Lynne Oreck-Wener and Bob Wener and family. R’fuah Sh’leimah to: Jeanie Cooperberg by Lynne Oreck-Wener and Bob Wener. THE SAUL AND EDNA GOLDFARB B’NAI MITZVAH PROGRAM RYAN GOLDBERG B’NAI MITZVAH FUND In Memory of: Parviz Amini by Ernie and Reva Goldberg. LIEFF FAMILY B’NAI MITZVAH FUND In Memory of: Solly Patrontasch by Francie Greenspoon and Norman Lieff. ZACHARY SILBER B’NAI MITZVAH FUND In Memory of: Pearl Rudin by Shari and Lawrence Silber. Contributions may be made online at www.OJCF.ca or by contacting the office at 613-798-4696 extension 274, Monday to Friday or by email at tributecards@ojcf.ca. Attractive cards are sent to convey the appropriate sentiments. All donations are acknowledged with a charitable receipt.

April 13, 2015

OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM

what’s going on | April 13 to 26, 2015 F O R M O R E C A L E N D A R L I S T I N G S , V I S I T W W W. OT TA W A J E W I S H B U L L E T I N . CO M / C A L E N D A R A N D W W W. J E W I S H OT TA W A . CO M / CO M M U N I T Y- C A L E N D A R

MONDAY, APRIL 13 Cheshbon HaNefesh, An Introduction to Mussar: The Glebe Minyan explores the concept of “Chesbon HaNefesh” or taking account of one’s soul. The Glebe Minyan, 64 Powell Ave., 7 pm, second and fourth Mondays beginning March 30. Info: Anna Maranta, 613-867-5505, maranta.anna@gmail.com WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15 Yom HaShoah Community Commemoration: with speakers Pinchas Gutter and Julien Klener, 7 pm. Info: Benita Siemiatycki, 613-798-4644, bsiemiatycki@jewishottawa.com THURSDAY, APRIL 16 Pause Table @ Carleton University: The Glebe Minyan invites the community to help in contributing time, money and material donations to feed hungry students during exam time. All food donations must be kosher. The Glebe Minyan, 64 Powell Ave., 11 am to 4 pm. Info: Anna Maranta, 613-867-5505, maranta.anna@gmail.com FRIDAY, APRIL 17 Shabbat Shalom at the SJCC: Shabbat celebration and playgroup. Perfect for kids four and under, 9:15 am. Weekly until June 26. Info: Ella Dagan, 613-798-9818, ext. 243, edagan@jccottawa.com

Vegetarian Shabbat Dinner: Gather for a vegetarian potluck dinner. Glebe Minyan, 64 Powell Avenue, 6 pm. Info: Anna Maranta, 613-867-5505, maranta.anna@gmail.com SATURDAY, APRIL 18 Shabbat Morning Educational Series, Part 4: with Hal Grossner. Topic: “Relational Judaism.” Agudath Israel Congregation, 1400 Coldrey Ave., 8:45 am. Info: Miram Lerson, 613-728-3501, clergy.support@agudathisrael.net SUNDAY, APRIL 19 Books & Bagels Book Review and Discussion: Paul Wiens will review “The Invisible City” by Julia Dahl. Temple Israel, 1301 Prince of Wales Dr., 9:30 am. Info: Shayla Mindell, 613-594-4556, shaylamindell@rogers.com Understanding the MidEast, Part 3: Lecture series with Dr. Nora Gold. Topic: “Combating the New Viliﬁcation of Israel on Campus.” Agudath Israel Congregation, 1400 Coldrey Ave., 7:30 pm. Info: Miram Lerson, 613-728-3501, clergy.support@agudathisrael.net TUESDAY, APRIL 21 Yom Hazikaron: Memorial ceremony for Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror, 7 pm. Info: Ella Dagan, 613-798-9818, ext. 243, edagan@jccottawa.com

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22 OJCS Story Time: Morning of stories, songs and snacks, OJCS Library, 31 Nadolny Sachs Pvt., 9:30 to 10:30 am. Info/RSVP: Andréa Black, 613-722-0020, andrea.black@theojcs.ca THURSDAY, APRIL 23 Yom Ha’Atzmaut Flag Raising Ceremony at City Hall: Marion Dewar Square, 110 Laurier Ave., 11 am to 12 pm. Info: Ella Dagan, 613-798-9818, ext. 243, edagan@jccottawa.com Yom Ha’Atzmaut Celebration: Music, food, kids activities, fun for all, 5 to 9 pm. Info: Ella Dagan, 613-798-9818, ext. 243, edagan@jccottawa.com FRIDAY, APRIL 24 Kabbalat Shabbat and Dinner: Services with song, meditation and learning, then a dairy vegetarian potluck. The Glebe Minyan, 91A Fourth Avenue, 6 to 9 pm. Info: Anna Maranta, 613-867-5505, maranta.anna@gmail.com CANDLE LIGHTING BEFORE

APRIL 17 APRIL 24

7:31 PM 7:40 PM

MAY 1 MAY 8

7:49 PM 7:57 PM

BULLETIN DEADLINES

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22 WEDNESDAY, MAY 6

FOR MAY 11 FOR TUESDAY, MAY 26

UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ACTIVITIES TAKE PLACE AT THE JOSEPH AND ROSE AGES FAMILY BUILDING, 21 NADOLNY SACHS PRIVATE

condolences Condolences are extended to the families of: Horace Beilin Herbert E. Brown Spencer Ronald Fainstein Marcus Charles Bashew Hotz

Julius Letovsky, Montreal (father of Sharon Letovsky)

Lionel Portigal, Montreal (father of Heidi Pivnick)

Dr. Max Jacob Palayew, Montreal (father of Dr. Karen Palayew and Dan Palayew)

Mark Zunder

May their memory be a blessing always.

The Condolence Column is offered as a public service to the community. There is no charge. For listing in this column, please call 613-798-4696, ext. 274.

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April 13, 2015 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM